Education and training, healthcare, IT and ITES services, high-end engineering, financial and legal services and life sciences are areas that offer scope for partnership in business between India and the UK, said Mr Mike Nithavrianakis, British Deputy High Commissioner in South India, here on Wednesday.
Addressing an Indo-UK interactive session, jointly organised by the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), a government agency to promote international trade and bring high quality investment to the UK, and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Madurai Zone, he said that UK is set on an export-led recovery and would like to partner with India as an emerging economy with high potential. This is reflected in the UK Prime Minister, Mr David Cameroon, choosing to visit India first in his agenda.
To make business global, the UK offered the best platform with an European market to serve the interests. Of the 1,200 Indian companies abroad, 700 have their headquarters in the UK, he said.
Ms Vidhya Soundararajan, Senior Adviser, Climate Change and Energy Unit, British Deputy High Commission, Chennai, in her address, said the future depended on sustainable low carbon economy domestically and internationally and a huge opportunity is visualised in the transition, and the UK has been taking a leading role in the change, developing expertise in suitable energy efficient technologies across various sectors which it would like to share and collaborate with Indian companies, including MSMEs.
Ms Deepika Subramanian, Head, Exams, Marketing (India), British Council, explained the enabling role played by the Council in facilitating students gain higher language and communications skills in English, partnering State Governments and other institutions in the country.
Earlier, Dr Aravind Srinivasan, Chairman, CII, Madurai Zone, in his welcome address, said that Madurai as an emerging city with significant entrepreneurial talent and infrastructure development in recent years, has sensed an opportunity for growth and development and would like to foster the same with UK, especially with the small and medium enterprises